The Anatomy of a Great Boss Fight

David Taylor of TheGameReviews writes: "Boss fights rank among the most unforgettable moments in video games. Ask any gamer and they will vividly recall Liquid Snake's seeming inability to die in Metal Gear Solid, or besting Ganon with the silver arrow in The Legend of Zelda. It's easy to see why these climatic battles engender such nostalgia. Boss fights are usually one of the last things players experience in a game, and therefore they last long in the memory. If the clash is epic, satisfying and challenging then players will surely fondly remember both the fight and the game as a whole. On the other hand, if the final fight is lackluster then the game will forever carry the stigma of an unsatisfying conclusion, regardless of the game's quality."

I can agree with most of these principals in theory, though not the specific examples the author sites. Particularly I thought Metroid Prime himself was quite a bit easier than the Omega Pirate, and Meta Ridley unusually easy given how far she is into the game.

I'd also add another category: The final boss must look friggin' cool! My biggest gripe with the final boss of Okami was that even though you got to use all your different powers and it's the most challenging part of the game (i.e. the only time I ever used a heal item), it looks friggin' pathetic. Particularly after so many amazing looking bosses prior. For shame. Still a great game, though.

Great boss fights seem like a thing of the past. They still stick too losely to the "watch for the pattern, hit the guy when he turns away, repeat" model, instead of adapting to the openness of many modern titles. Shame that the old excitement is so hard to replicated in our jaded minds